Abbas Applauds after Minister Calls for Jihad in Yerushalayim

Jihadi fighters should not be fighting in Syria but should go to Yerushalayim, PA Minister of Religious Affairs Mahmoud Al-Habbash said in front of Mahmoud Abbas in a speech broadcast on Monday. “The direction for Jihad is well-known and clear….Jerusalem is the direction, Jerusalem is the address,” he said.

Abbas, who was in the audience, applauded.

The following is an excerpt from the speech by Al-Habbash:

“There is a message we must convey to those who kidnapped the Yarmouk [Palestinian] refugee camp [in Syria] with baseless false slogans, pretexts, and excuses. We say to them: ‘The [place for] resistance and Jihad is not the Yarmouk refugee camp. Whoever wants resistance, whoever wants Jihad, the direction for Jihad is well-known and clear. Everyone knows it. I don’t think that there is anyone who doesn’t know where Jihad is supposed to take place. [applause from the audience] I don’t think that there is anyone who doesn’t know to where we should direct efforts or where to concentrate the masses. I don’t think there is anyone who doesn’t know this. Those who send young people to Syria or elsewhere to die for a misdirected cause must stop and understand that Jerusalem is still waiting. Jerusalem is the direction, Jerusalem is the address. [Abbas and audience applaud.] A compass that does not point to Jerusalem, Muhammad has nothing to do with it. Put an end to your ignorance, and recognize that you [those fighting in Syria] are nothing more than small tools in a game [controlled by] malicious hands that are running a filthy game to crush the Ummah (Islamic Nation) and diminish it, and deflect the compass away from its true direction.”